Kiss Me In The Rain
by Princess Corkey
Summary: You are 90 percent of the reason I get up in the morning," he told her matter-of-factly. "What's the other 10 percent?" she sniffled "Well, I usually need to pee when I wake up..." Fred is leaving Hogwarts, and Katie isn't taking it well. Rater T for sexual themes later on.
1. Chapter 1

"You're leaving?"

Fred prepared himself for an angry outburst. He braced himself against her wrath. He was ready for yelling and cursing and possibly even hitting.

In short, Fred expected Katie to be…well, Katie.

"You're leaving?" Katie repeated. Fred could tell the shock was about to wear off, and he steeled himself against a wave of emotional overload.

Fred watched closely as Katie's face changed from shock to anger. She clenched her fists, narrowed her eyes, and planted her feet.

Then Katie collapsed, sobbing, into Fred's arms.

Stunned, Fred took a moment to respond. Once the initial shock blew over, he wrapped his arms tentatively around Katie, and the sudden realization of just how small and fragile she was hit him.

It was a strange feeling, love. Fred had known Katie all his life. He had watched her sass teachers and duel his twin brother. He had witnessed with his own eyes how she followed potions instructions in reverse order just to watch the vein in Snape's neck bulge. He had even heard her let off a stream of curses that would have made his mother's ears bleed. But suddenly it hit him just how…well, _tiny _she was. As if the littlest breeze could knock her over.

Tightening his arms around her petite figure, Fred kissed her forehead. "Don't be sad," he pleaded. "It won't be that bad. I promise I'll visit. Every Hogsmeade weekend. And we'll write all the time. Come on, please don't cry."

Sniffled, Katie swallowed hard and said something incoherent against Fred's chest.

"What was that, Love?" he asked, trying to will her tears to dry.

"It won't be the same," Katie repeated. "You'll be out there, in the real world, a successful business owner. You'll make loads of money, and meet hundreds of girls. You won't want a girlfriend who's still in school."

Fred froze. "Is that what you think?" he asked, but it came out as a whisper.

Katie didn't respond. Fred loosened his hold on her and tilted her head downward so he could look into her eyes. "I will always want you," he informed her. "I love you."

With these three words, Katie fell apart again, falling against Fred's chest with a dull thud, and he caught her just before she slid to the ground.

"Do you?" Katie asked, so quietly it was nearly inaudible, between sobs that were muffled by Fred's chest. He was vaguely aware that she was ruining his shirt, but at this point he didn't caring about anything but drying her tears. Fred had always thought that if he died during this war, it would take at least ten Death Eaters to take him down. It turns out all it really took was watching Katie's heart break and knowing he had caused it.

"Of course I do," Fred replied stroking her hair as she cried. "I thought you knew that. Katherine Elizabeth Bell, you are 90 percent of the reason I get out of bed in the morning."

"What's the other 10 percent?" Katie sniffled.

"Well, I usually have to pee when I wake up…"

Katie laughed in spite of herself.

"Furthermore," Fred continued seriously, talking into her hair. "I am doing this for you. I fully intend to marry you one day, Katie, and I have to do it properly, now don't I?"

Katie looked up at Fred, her eyes glistening with the tears she was trying not to let go. At that moment, a single raindrop fell against Katie's cheek, railing down until it dripped off her nose. Within seconds, the pair was standing in the midst a full-on downpour.

"We should go inside," Fred murmured. "Or you'll catch cold."

"Wait," Katie said desperately. "If you're leaving, and with Umbridge taking away Hogsmeade privileges left and right, this may be the last time we see each other until summer. Alone, I mean."

"And we have to spend it in the rain?" Fred asked, confused.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered under her breath. Then she grinned up at Fred, a smile that he could already tell was gonna be the thing he missed most. "Will you shut up and kiss me?"

* * *

**Disclaimer: No, I do not claim to own Harry Potter. These characters belong to JK Rowling, whom I simply believe left a lot of romance potential to the imagination. Enter, Princess Corkey!**

**Yes, this is the same story as on my other profile. I will be continuing it on here, so don't bother checking back on the other account; it might remain up but there will be no new chapters posted via Deadly Poppy.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Katie?"

Katie turned her head almost imperceptibly in Alicia's direction, but her gaze remained locked on something outside the window.

Alicia hesitated. Then, taking a deep breath, she said slowly, "Fred told me to give you this, after…" She faltered, unable to finish her sentence. She thrust the small package towards her friend.

Katie didn't move, just kept staring out the window. The silence was almost deafening in its prominence. It was just…there.

"You see that cloud?" Katie asked suddenly, so quiet and soft, but so sudden in the middle of the painful silence that it reminded Alicia of a still, placid lake, suddenly disturbed by a fish jumping out of the water. "That grayish one, just there?"

Alicia peered out the window, straining her eyes, but it became increasingly clear that she was studying the window to see something that wasn't there.

Before she could say this out loud, however, Katie answered her own question. "Of course you don't. It disappeared. It was just there, though. Just there, below that bigger one. A lingering puff of smoke that hadn't quite left. Only now it has."

Alicia wondered if she should be concerned that Katie was staring at clouds that didn't exist, but really, she just wanted her friend to be alright. "Uh, here," she said, trying to give Katie the package again, wishing she didn't have to hold it. Even though she had no idea what was in it, Alicia felt like she was intruding just by touching it. Like it was something special between Katie and Fred, and she shouldn't be holding it.

At this Katie turned, and Alicia saw that her eyes were puffy and red. This shocked Alicia more than anything else Katie could have done, although it probably shouldn't have. It was perfectly logical to cry when you wouldn't see your boyfriend for months. Katie, however, never cried. Not in _front_ of anyone at least. Alicia had always been sort of in awe of Katie's strength. She had envied her independence and her willpower.

She had watched Katie hear the news that her parents had died, and she hadn't even sniffled. But when Alicia thought harder, she remembered that she hadn't seen Katie for three hours after that.

As if reading Alicia's thoughts, Katie spoke, slowly but evenly, no trace of sadness in her voice, though her eyes told a different story. "You don't have to be unbreakable," she told Alicia, "if you can act like it."

Alicia had a sudden urge to throw her arms around her tiny companion. She wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay, that she didn't have to put on an act anymore. But she couldn't.

Something stopped Alicia from trying to comfort Katie. It was selfish, really, but Alicia couldn't bring herself to tell Katie it would be okay, because she herself had never felt pain equal to Katie's. She had never lost anyone close to her, and she had never had love close enough to lose it. She couldn't bring herself to touch Katie, because something inside her was frightened that perhaps sadness was contagious.

"Will you open it for me?" Katie's request was sudden and unexpected, and it caught Alicia off guard. It took her a moment to remember the tiny package she held in her hands.

"M-me?" Alicia stammered. "I don't know if I…"

"Please?"

The same urge to hold her friend in her arms washed over Alicia again, and this time it was too strong for a selfish feeling of self-preservation to stop her. She threw her arms around Katie, willing all her pain to go away, trying to protect her friend with her body.

And then, somehow, Alicia was sobbing. Bawling for her friend, crying because she wasn't strong enough to help Katie when she needed it most. Katie was crying too, but not in the same way. While Alicia was suddenly overcome with loud sobs, Katie shrank inside of her friend's warm embrace, curling into a ball and allowing herself to be held as silent tears slipped down her cheeks, slid off her chin, and hit the floor, disappearing into the wooden floorboards.

Alicia didn't know how long it was before she realized she was holding onto thin air. For a moment she was frightened. Images of Katie simply falling apart and melting into the floor flashed through her mind, before she opened her eyes and saw that Katie hadn't disappeared, but instead had somehow managed to slip, quietly and carefully, through Alicia's arms, and was sitting next to her on the window seat, again staring at that same unseen cloud, as if nothing had happened.

Alicia wanted to say something, but she could see that there was nothing more she could do for Katie. Out of her own selfishness, she set the package carefully next to Katie's thigh, praying Katie wouldn't ask her to open it again. That was something that, for some reason, she simply couldn't do.

But Katie, although terrified of what she would find beneath the hurriedly wrapped brown parchment, was too kind to try and stop Alicia. Because she knew that her friend would have done it, had she asked. And that was enough.

Katie knew the cloud wasn't there. It had disappeared, shortly after he had. But for a short time, the smoke had lingered in the air, something for Katie to hold on to, something for her to see, even if only for a moment longer. And in that moment, she had a little piece of Fred left. She couldn't let that cloud of smoke go, even if it had already gone.

Slowly and deliberately, without taking her eyes off the spot where the cloud had been, Katie slid her hand across the window seat until it touched the cool paper of the package. Holding her breath, she tore the paper carefully, still not looking at the spot where her hand was, as if looking at it would make it disappear.

The paper came off easily in her hand, and Katie jerked her hand away as if the small object had burned her. She didn't notice, of course, that there was a letter on top of it, and the swift motion was enough to knock it off the seat and under the couch, unseen.

Allowing her fingers to brush against the small item Fred had left her, Katie could tell almost what it was, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why Fred would have given her a Rememberall. Picking it up, however, she saw that it wasn't a Rememberall at all, but a small globe, with two miniature people contained inside.

The people were standing near a lake. They were so tiny Katie couldn't make out their features, but she would have known that shade of red hear anywhere.

Katie's mouth fell open in awe as tiny clouds formed above the two figures, and little raindrops began to pour onto them. As you should have figured out, they did not run from the rain, and Katie knew this, but she was still filled with a sudden happiness as she watched the tiny people embrace. Without warning, the clouds dissolved, and the cycle started over again.

Katie felt tears welling up in her eyes, and she realized that she had finally let her eyes leave the spot in the sky where her little bit of smoke had been. Her gaze darted desperately across the blue sky, scanning it for evidence that Fred had been there, but she couldn't find it again.

Clutching her tiny glass ball to her heart, Katie doubled over again, but she did not cry. She had her little piece of Fred, and it wasn't a bit of elusive smoke. It was something she could hold in her hands, something she could feel and touch and press against her heart.

Katie watched in awe as the tiny people in her globe kissed again. And again. And again. She sighed each time the clouds disappeared and they broke apart, but the tiny couple was never far apart. They lived in the moment. The exact same moment, over and over and over again.


End file.
